


Violent Ends

by aflamethatneverdies



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 18:42:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8024857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflamethatneverdies/pseuds/aflamethatneverdies
Summary: "When Mercutio dies, he is not surprised."
The destruction of Verona's youth, through the eyes of the survivor





	Violent Ends

When Mercutio dies, he is not surprised.  Sad, very very sad, but not surprised.  Mercutio and Tybalt have always had tension and this fight was a long time coming.  Two people as volatile as Mercutio and Tybalt cannot coexist in a city as rife with fighting as Verona without one of them -- both of them -- snapping and pulling his sword out on the other.  They would have to deal with their tension one way or another, and fighting is the only way any of them know how.  He just wishes it had only taken the scratch Mercutio had said it was. 

  
  


When Tybalt dies, not five minutes later, he is just sad. He wasn't particularly a fan of Tybalt, especially now, after what he's just done, but that doesn't mean he deserved to die.  He was just a kid, after all, same as the rest of them.  He saw Tybalt’s face, right after; it was an accident.  He hadn’t meant to kill him.  If Romeo hadn’t gotten in between --- he stops himself there.  He does not --  _ cannot  _ \-- blame Romeo.  With Mercutio slain, Romeo is all he has.  

 

(But not for very much longer;  the Prince’s edict echoes cruelly in his ears.)

  
  


When Romeo and Juliet are found dead in Capulet’s tomb, he is angry.  Romeo, who only ever wanted to be loved, but never knew where to look.  And Juliet, who, admittedly, he didn’t know all that well, but whom Romeo loved enough to die for; she must have been wonderful.  And now both of them are dead, because their families couldn't look past their hatred long enough to see what they were doing, who they were hurting.  He doesn't think he'll ever be able to forgive them.

  
  


When the peace is finally,  _ finally  _ reached, it doesn’t feel nearly as safe as he thinks it should.  Perhaps it’s only him who feels this way, because he is alone, because he does not know what to do with himself now that his friends are gone, because he has always felt naked without them and now the entire city has been shaken up by their  _ deaths _ .  

 

Or perhaps there are others who see through the tight handshakes and the tighter smiles and the talk, and think it cannot possibly last.  Sooner or later, one side will break and it will be like nothing has changed, and, though it may be years before that happens, it feels like the whole city is holding its breath.  But maybe he’s just gotten cynical.

  
  


No one should have had to die for this.


End file.
